


An Ocean of Stars

by AriWrote



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Fluff and Angst, GUESS WHAT, Galra Keith (Voltron), I got rid of the ambiguous tag because it end up being more shippy than I thought, I lied about there being only four chapters, I'm just accepting my fate, M/M, Mild Language, Mostly Fluff, Not Beta Read, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Relatively Canon Compliant, Selkies, So everything after.... chapter three is not canon compliant, Surprise you aren't as close to being done with me as you thought, Uh....., Written before Season Two, implied klance will be in the fourth chapter, selkie lance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-04
Updated: 2016-10-02
Packaged: 2018-08-12 21:58:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7950697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AriWrote/pseuds/AriWrote
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five events after Lance loses his pelt.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Twelve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which there are so many mermaid AUs, that I decide to do a Selkie AU. I could just really see Lance as a selkie, okay? The homesickness and the water motif were just too good to pass up. Please excuse any factual errors in regards to pinnipeds on Selkie magic. This is my first fanfic in this series and I'm horribly nervous. I'm placing bets on how long before I regret everything.

Lance is only twelve when his pelt is stolen. He’d snuck on land after catching sight of the children playing along the beach during one of his less supervised moments. The older selkies had not been there to warn him against it. Sure, he’d heard the tales of selkies who’d been seduced by the allure of the human world and had their pelt stolen as a result. Those very stories were playing through his head as his pelt slipped from his skin and he stashed it away in what he’d thought was a good hiding spot.

But those were just fairytales, he’d thought. Just stories the older selkies tell the kids to scare them from going to the surface and having fun. It couldn’t happen to someone smart like Lance.

It wouldn’t happen.

And yet there he was.

Just moments ago he’d been basking in the fading sunlight, body still thrumming with the leftover energy of playing with kids his age. The sunset had seemed so tempting that Lance had, just for a moment, hazarded the thought of waiting a moment longer to enjoy the sight. He hadn’t, too worried that his mothers were already halfway to sending a search party after him. He’d skipped to the little alcove where his pelt was suppose to be and pulled away the rocks that should have hidden it. His brain did not register at first what was wrong. It was only as his hand wrapped around nothing that it caught up.

He feels sick. This couldn’t be happening to him. This kind of thing only happened in old folktales, right? So why couldn’t he find it? He throws the rocks back, harder than might have been called for, and jumps up. He’d just misremembered, right? He’s moving on autopilot as he searches every corner of the alcove. It’s only after the sun has disappeared on the horizon and the moon has replaced it that he accepts the truth.

His pelt was gone.

His uncle is the first to find him shivering beside the jetty. Lance doesn’t react to the nervous bark or the nudge against his arm beyond curling closer into himself. He’s not sure if he’s scared or ashamed, but he just wants his uncle to leave.

“Lance,” he hears, “why aren’t you back home? Your mothers are worried sick.”

Lance looks up at that, ready to shout because does his uncle even need to ask? Shouldn’t it be obvious why he’s sitting there, shivering on the beach instead of home? He’s so angry there are tears in his eyes, but when he looks up into his uncle’s face (not the one Lance's used to, but there are still hints here and there that let’s Lance know it’s still him) filled with worry and concern, he can feel the anger leaving his body. Instead, he just feels tired.

He slumps into his uncle's arms, the exhaustion of the day finally catching up to him. His uncle says something, but he doesn’t really register it. He feels his uncle pull away and his hands scramble to grab at his arms. Before he can stop himself, he’s screaming, “No, don’t leave me!”

His uncle gives an uneasy smile and pats Lance’s head, “I’m not. I just... need to tell your mothers what happened.”

Lance does not miss the slight hesitation, and he knows what that means. He watches his uncle slip his pelt back on and disappear into the waves. He wonders if he just won’t return, and that’s how they’ll abandon him. Maybe his mothers will stop by, cry and hug him goodbye before sending him away. Whatever way they did it, the ending was inevitable. Everyone knew what happened to selkies who lost their pelts.

He wonders if just leaving will make it hurt less. He won’t have to wait hours until he accepts that they aren’t coming or have to suffer with his mothers’ pity if they do come, if he just leaves. He digs his heel into the sand and uses his pointer finger to draw nonsensical designs. He doesn’t want to leave… but it’s obvious to him that that might be his only option. He stares out at the ocean one last time, and pushes himself up.

 It’s only the sight of dozens of seals dragging themselves to shore that stop his feet. He watches in horror as his mothers, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, and more strip away their pelts and stagger over to him. They shiver in the cold air, but they’re all smiling. Lance can’t comprehend it. Why would they? What were they even thinking? He wants to scream, because this isn’t what he’d wanted. His tongue is stuck to the roof of his mouth, and the only sound he can make is a strangled sob.

His uncle disappears into town, only to return fifteen minutes later with a strange new woman carrying bundles of clothes and towels. They pass them around to everyone and the woman smiles as she helps one of the younger kids into a baggy pair of clothes. Once everyone is clothed, his uncle introduces the woman at his side (Angela, he says with a smile a little too fond) and announces that she’d be willing to board them for as long as necessary. It all happens so quickly, Lance can only numbly trail along.

After they’ve settled into Angela’s house sometime later, one of his mothers pulls him aside. He’s still trying to sort through the reality of it all, and by sort through it, he means sobbing until it all makes sense. So far, it hasn't helped. His mom, misunderstanding his tears, pulls him aside and whispers calming words into his ear while running her fingers through his hair.

“You didn’t think we’d leave you alone, sweetheart? Family doesn’t abandon each other. No matter what, we’d be there for you,” his mother says, and she’s smiling and Lance wishes they’d all just stop with the fake smiles. There’s no way any of them are happy with this, so why are the still pretending? His mother continues, “Are you scared? We’ll find a way to make all this work. It’ll all be alright.”

He blubbers nonsense words, trying to get across how _he hadn’t wanted this, he hadn’t wanted to be alone, but he hadn’t wanted them to sacrifice their happiness like this. Why were they here? Why would they do this?_

Finding the words have escaped him, Lance pulls his mother closer and drowns in the sound of her voice and the pretty promises she makes. She could make this right. She’d always fixed things when Lance had messed up before, so surely she could fix this one. Couldn’t she?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you're curious of how Lance got clothes to play with the kids in the first place, he most likely stole them from a nearby house. I do have some backstory for Lance's uncle and the woman, but its probably obvious/boring.


	2. Sixteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm aiming to update this every Saturday or Sunday. I'll aim for Saturday, but it usually be Sunday, most likely.

He’s sixteen when he decides to turn to the stars to mend the hole the ocean has left in his heart. He’s grown fascinated by them during his time on shore. He absorbs every bit of information about stars and space travel that he's come across. When a recruiter from the Galaxy Garrison arrives at his school, Lance makes it his mission to get accepted. He even enlists his twin sister, who’d always been the smarter of the two of them, in helping him study. She laughs at his enthusiasm, and Lance wonders if she thinks it’s all a joke. During one of their study sessions, she smirks at him and asks why he’s so determined to get in.

“I’ve never seen you so excited over something that wasn’t just a pretty face or beauty supplies, Lance,” she says, absently shuffling the note cards they’d prepared yesterday into the ever growing stack.

“I just,” his voice wavers, and no matter how many times he’d thought it, it’s still difficult to put into words, “I need to leave, Ana. I can’t stay here anymore.”

 It’s the same thing he tells his mothers when the acceptance letter arrives in the mail. The entire family is in shock. They’d all known about Lance’s goal, but he supposes they’d all had the same thought as his sister. His mothers take it the hardest, and it’s only the way he smiles wider than he’d ever had since coming on land that stop them from begging him to reconsider. It doesn’t stop them from asking him other questions.

His mom cries, “Have we done something wrong?”

His mama begs, “What on Earth could the stars offer you that we can’t give you here?”

As he moves the last of his luggage into the living room, they both ask him, “Why do you feel you need to leave?”

Lance smiles and pulls them both into a hug. They smell like the ocean, even if they haven’t set foot in it since Lance was twelve. It’s as if the ocean had claimed them, a promise that they’d always be her children. It'd once served as a comfort for Lance, but now it only served as a reminder.

“It’s not my home anymore,” he says. “It stopped being my home when I lost my pelt. It’s time I found a new one. If that’s flying around in space, then that’s where I’m going.”

He does not mention how looking at his mama’s eyes, tired and hopeless, have begun to way heavy on his conscious. Nor does he mention how he’s noticed all the ways his mom’s smile seem less frequent. He tries to pretend it doesn’t hurt to watch his siblings stare out at the ocean, but never take a step closer. He does not talk of all the little ways he’s noticed his family withering. 

It'd been something he'd though about for a long time. He couldn't just keep them trapped here like some fisherman in a folktale, and that’s exactly what he’s doing by staying with them. They still had a home –a true home, not some sad facsimile– to return to. It was time for them to go home, without him.

Mama is on the verge of blubbering and he can see how his mom tries to hold back her own tears in favor of comforting her wife. He’s trying his best to hold back his own. Lance had never been good with goodbyes, and he supposes this means he came by it honestly.

“Now listen,” he says, using the palm of his hand to wipe away his tears, “I want you all to go back to the sea. There's no reason you should stay on land when I’m off impressing the world with my piloting skills.”

He hopes it sounds like a logical suggestion, and not a like the helpless plea it truly is. He supposes the tremble in his voice doesn’t really help.

His mama’s face is blotchy as she pulls him closer, “If we return to the ocean, how we can know you’re alright? I don’t want to never hear from you again.”

Lance’s eyes catch his uncle in the middle of helping Angela prepare lunch in kitchen, and he offers his mother a smile he hopes is encouraging, “Something tells me we’ll find a way. Even if I have to cry into the ocean until one of you show up, I’ll make sure you know I’m alright. Trust me, Mama.”

She laughs at him and he hears one of his younger sisters in the background exclaim, “He’ll be crying within a week, Mama! You know, Lance is a bigger crybaby than even Marina.”

“You little brat,” he says, and pulls away from his mothers so he can teach his sister some manners.  She tries to escape, but Lance manages to snatch her up and toss her over his shoulder. She squeals and beats her tiny fists against his back, though she soon devolves into giggles as he starts to spin around. It doesn’t take long before the giggles reach his other siblings and a few of his cousin and they all come bounding towards him, little voices raised in shouts of, “Me too!”

 For a moment, Lance regrets leaving them. He’ll miss this, but he knows this is for the best. They both needed this.

Before he leaves, he agrees to see them off. He watches as his family unlocks the little chest they’d stored the pelts in. Back when they'd first stored them away, his mom had told him it was only for precautionary measures. It would be dangerous if one of the little one’s got the bright idea of going for a swim in their pelt and went out on their own. He supposes it was meant to ease his worries, but all it had done was make Lance feel worse about the situation.

The walk to the beach is tense. His mothers, as well as few of his aunts and one of his uncles, all keep glancing at him as if waiting for him to call it all off. The only thing that breaks it up is the laughter of the little ones. Either they don’t comprehend the depth of what’s happening, or they just don’t care.

When they arrive at the beach, the tension melts away. Even the adults are buzzing with excitement. Everyone has already said their goodbyes to him, so there is nothing to stop them as they all don their pelts and return to the ocean. He watches with a smile as they all go home. A few of them turn back to him and Lance swears he can see a smile on their faces as well.

His uncle is the only who stays. He hugs his sister tightly and tells her what Lance had guessed he would say. His mom’s eyes are misty as she hugs him tighter, whispering something in his ear. He places a kiss on her forehead and watches as she slips her pelt on and disappears into the waves.

“Are you sure you don’t want to go back?” Lance asks him when he walks over to where Lance is sitting. Even if he’d guessed that his uncle would stay on land, the decision still baffles him.

His uncle shrugs and nudges him, “I’ll miss it for sure, but there are things up here that aren’t down there.”

“I don’t understand,” is his only response.

“Oh, you’ll understand in time,” his uncle says, leaning back on his palms. He’s silent for a moment as he stares up at the stars above. When he finally speaks, he grins and says, “Now why don’t you tell me all about this space school you’re going to, my little pilot?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going to add a part where he arrived at the Garrison and met Pidge and Hunk, but it ended up being really clunky. So instead, expect lots of awful-friendship-fluff next chapter. Also, for those curious, yes the crying in the ocean is a reference to folklore that says a maiden could summon a male selkie by crying seven tears into an ocean.


	3. Seventeen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This just in: Saturday updates are a pipe dream and Sunday updates are in. I really need to stop waiting until the last moment to finish these chapters. In other news, I can no longer hopelessly bluff my way through Lance's character. Wish me luck. This was literally finished with Mili's "Bathtub Mermaid" playing on repeat. Fitting, I know.

            He is seventeen when he finally meets the Blue Lion. He's soaking wet from an impromptu (potentially life-threatening, if you ask Hunk) water slide, and maybe later he'll find time to laugh at the coincidence. At the moment, all Lance can hear, all he can  _think_  are the waves crashing against the shore and his mom calling for him to start heading back home soon. The Blue Lion is staring down at Lance and Lance can't manage to tear his eyes away. He only half listens as Keith babbles on about whatever things Keith likes to babble about. 

            Lance vaguely makes out "I wonder how we get through this."

            "Maybe you just have to knock," he says, half joking. He knocks against in demonstration and jumps when his suggestion actually works. The force field falls and Lance is hit full force with information and images that seem impossible, but he knows are true.

            The Lion bends down and opens its maw. Lance does not hesitate to step inside. 

            It’s like he’s found his pelt. His skin feels right on his body in ways it hasn’t in five year. He wonders if this how his family had felt when they'd return, if this euphoria was the same.  Those times when he’d wished he’d never left Varadero vanish. The months of frustration over how no matter how hard he tried, it never seemed good enough, are suddenly worth it.

            As soon as he can, he’s writing a letter to his mothers. This is what he’d been looking for when he’d left. This is why he needed to leave. Not _the giant mechanical lion_  (not to downplay the coolness of a giant mechanical lion) as much as that feeling of right. There is a laugh bubbling in his chest that he can’t contain, and he doesn’t find he wants to. He is free and nothing can ruin this.

            Even Keith and his dumb mullet.

* * *

 

            Lance watches Nyma fly off with Blue and he wasn’t aware that something this familiar could hurt this bad. His mind is spinning? What good is he without Blue? Will this end with him being abandoned? Can he even handle losing that part of him for a second time? He’s back on the beach in Varadero , quickly coming to the realization that his pelt is gone. 

             Except, this time is different. This time he has chance fix it, to stop everything before it is beyond repair.

            And first things first, he needs to retrieve his discarded helmet while handcuffed to a tree. He’s going to have to thank his mother later for giving him his long legs. Maybe even his sister, for the times she'd forced him to join her during her 'gymnastics' training (even if that usually meant laughing as he fell flat on his face).

 

* * *

 

            When he and Blue are finally reunited, Lance spends hours sitting inside the cockpit in the bay. He’s still not come down from the panic of watching Blue disappear before his eyes. It’s like he’s twelve again, combing the beach in a frenzied state, hands torn up from where the jagged rocks had cut into his palms. He closes his eyes and pretends that he’s back in the ocean. Blue's purrs turn to waves and Lance is back in a body that’s right. He's surrounded by a family who’s happy and doesn’t secretly despise him for forcing them on land. There's flickers of alien oceans that Lance has never seen interspersed with Lance's own memories, and he vaguely wonders if Blue is trying to help him. He wouldn't doubt it.

            When Hunk finds him hours later, Lance tries to laugh off the way he’s shaking and claims he’s apologizing to Blue for letting it get stolen. Hunk rolls his eyes and pats him on the back, grumbling something about trusting him more often. Then he pulls Lance into a hug, and Lance wonders for not the first time if maybe Hunk knows. If when he’d looked into Lance’s head, he’d realized that all those longing memories of the ocean were more than just homesickness at play. It’s a ridiculous notion and the hug could just be because Hunk is Hunk, but Lance had always gotten the feeling the Hunk knew more than he let on. 

            Whatever it is, Lance is thankful for it. It's a steadying hand when he truly needed one.

            Hunk doesn’t ask him to leave, and when Lance finally stumbles out of Blue, convinced that he won’t have a panic attack if the lion is out of his sight, he finds a plate of some not-goo food that Lance hadn’t know they had. Even from where he is, he can tell it smells exactly like something his mother would cook (which is strange, given it looks like a fruit).

            As he picks up the plate, his eyes land on a little note shoved under it.

            “It’ll be alright, Lance,” reads Hunk’s familiar looped pseudo-cursive, and he can’t help but smile, “We’ve got your back!”

            “Missed you at dinner,” is written in a corner. Even if it isn’t signed, Lance recognizes that chicken scrawl from notes that’d he begged Pidge to lend him before he’d realized that Pidge’s handwriting and whatever shorthand system she’d come up with, made it impossible for anyone but Pidge to understand them.

            His steps are lighter as he walks into the common room, hands sticky with the juice from the bites of what turned out to be some pomegranate-apple structured thing that tasted like Peanut Butter Chocolate cookies. When he plops down next to Pidge, she takes one look at him before stealing a slice from his plate.

            She takes a bite, scrunches her nose up, but finishes the slice. “I’m having mixed feelings about this,” she mumbles, and takes another piece.

            “Is this going to devolve into one of those peanut rants?” Lance is all too familiar with those. There was a very good reason peanut-based snacks had been banned during group study sessions. There was only room for one off-topic rant, and Lance usually had that covered.

            “I’m just saying…” Pidge begins, and Lance promptly tunes her out. It's skill he'd picked up from being (nearly) the oldest of five siblings. He wonders how long it'll take until Pidge realizes and starts kicking him. He's betting that it'll take at least until the end of her rant.

            Halfway through Pidge's _passionate_ speech, Hunk wanders in. He starts a little at the sight of Lance, but recovers. As it turns out, Hunk is a stronger person then Lance supposes he will ever be, because despite his very excellent chance to escape, Hunk takes a seat beside Lance. He eyes the almost empty plate sitting in Lance's lap. "I did good?

            "Yeah, started a peanut tirade, but," Lance says, and he can't help the smile creeping on his lips, "thanks, buddy."

            Hunk returns his smile, and nudges him. He opens his mouth to say something most likely heartfelt, and deeply moving, only to be foiled by a rather annoyed Pidge dealing a potentially bruising kick to Lance's shin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm less happy with this chapter than I was with the others. Might come back and clean it up at a later time. Who knows. Anyway, because this will probably not be addressed, Hunk does in fact know Lance is a selkie! I haven't figured out the particulars of how he knows selkies are a thing, but it's either because he's a descendant of a selkie or he's interacted with them (now I wanna write about baby Lance and baby Hunk meeting). Pidge might have an inkling, if only because she got something out of Hunk.


	4. Eventually

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was suppose to be the final chapter, but then I decided this needed a epilogue. Sorry, guys. It's also the first chapter that doesn't follow our current canon and the chapter that went through the most changes. Who knows if they were for the better.  
> (And to that one severely dehydrated reader of this story, please drink some water. I might have lied about there being no more sad. In my defense, it originally was devoid of most of the angst.)

Keith is a Galra. Lance has long stopped counting the years since he’d left Earth by the time the revelation hits, but he knows it’s been a while. There’s an uneasy tension throughout the group in the days before it comes to light. Maybe they all could sense what was about to happen. Keith had been so desperate to hide it, but there was only so much he could do. Clothes can hide the purple splotches spreading up and down his body, but the rest of his transformation wasn’t so easily hid.

When it does finally come out, no one really reacts well, Shiro especially. Part of this is because it happens in the middle of a battle. Lance’s memories of the fight are foggy (having endured a head wound that had nearly put him in the healing pod), but he clearly remembers the look on Keith’s face when Shiro had turned on him in his confusion. Hunk had been the first to realize who the strange Galra in the Red Paladin’s armor was, and had somehow managed to stop Shiro before he sent Keith to the healing pod.

            When the battle is over, they all gather in Castle’s hub to tend to their wounds. Despite Keith suffering some of the worst injuries, no one makes a move to help him. Everyone seems more intent on studying the floor than addressing the elephant in the room.

Allura is the first to approach him. Keith stares up at her, golden eyes wide and expression frozen in what can only be called fear. (Lance fuzzily thinks of how strange it is to see fear on a Galran face.) Allura opens her mouth to say something, and before she can get anything out, Keith pushes past her and runs into the halls.

No one follows after him. No one says anything as they all head back to their rooms. When they meet for breakfast next morning, no one talks about the empty chair between Lance and Pidge. An entire castle day goes by with everyone resolutely not talking about Keith. To everyone’s surprise, Shiro is the first to say something.

            “It’s time we stop avoiding this,” he says, placing his spoon beside his plate.

            Hunk stares down at his food, as if maybe the goo will save him from this situation, “Are you sure? I’m completely in favor of avoiding this conversation for a little while longer.”

            “Hunk,” Pidge says. Her bottom lip is trembling, and she’s stirring her food with a little more force than necessary.

            “Yeah, I know,” he murmurs. His shoulders slump forward.

            “I acted out of line. I should have realized,” Shiro’s voice tapers off.  “I shouldn’t have attacked him. I can’t believe I attacked him.”

            “We all messed up,” Allura says. “None of us handled this situation with the care it deserved. No one should take singular blame for this.”

            _It,_ the word resounds in Lance’s brain. Even if they are talking about what happened, no one wants to be the first to verbalize the truth of the situation. That makes the truth that Keith is a Galra too real. Lance figures he should be the first to bring it up, owing to his reputation of being unable to hold his tongue.

            “How did we not realize he was a Galra?” Lance sucks in a deep breath; the words taste bitter on his tongue. “I mean. It doesn’t change anything; he’s still Keith, but why is he only showing signs now?”

            Coran’s response is quick, “I’d have take a look at his biology first. It could be a long lasting glamour or maybe the Galra possess a similar ability to the Alteans. It could be any number of things. Either way, it is very odd that there was a Galra hiding out on your planet.”

            Allura winces and pats Coran’s hand, “Those test will have to wait. I’m sure that bombarding Keith with questions regarding his transformation is the last thing he wants right now.”

            “We don’t even know what he wants right now. If you don’t remember, Keith has been hiding out in his room since the battle,” Lance grumbles. In his irritation, he stabs his goo with his spoon. The effect is about as cathartic as splashing soup, and he ends up with bits of goo all over his shirt. Holy Crow, did he miss solid food.

“He just needs time,” Shiro says. His expression is stern; it’s the same face he uses when handing out orders. “When he’s ready, we’ll be there for him. Until then…”

Lance bites his lip, unwilling to argue with Shiro. Even if Lance thought that giving Keith time was about the most idiotic thing they could do, Lance respects Shiro. Its better that he think Lance is willing to follow his orders.

Of course, Lance has never been very good at following orders. As soon as they break away from dinner, Lance bypasses the training room and heads straight for Keith’s room.

He’s not shocked to find the door to Keith’s room locked. Of course, locked doors had never been an obstacle for his little siblings, and they wouldn’t be for Lance. Keith may be stubborn, but Lance learned from the best of them. He knows the power of persistence.

And annoyance.

Lance almost wants to laugh when the door slides open within what Lance will estimate was about two minute and a fuming Keith appears in the doorway. “What do you want,” Keith hisses.

Despite what Lance is certain is considerable effort, the words don’t hold much venom, partly because Keith looks like a mess. There’s a cut on his lip that looks as though it has tried to scab over, but Keith’s teeth have prevented it. There’s a bit of blood dried on his chin from where he’d failed to wipe it clean. His hair is greasy and sticks out at odd angles as if Keith has been pulling at it. He looks like he hasn’t slept or bathed since the battle. Lance isn’t sure if it’s just his imagination, but he swears Keith looks thinner.

It’s only the look of growing impatience on Keith’s face that forces a response from Lance.  “I-” _want to help, want to apologize for how bad we handle that,_ “wanted to bring you something to eat.”

Keith’s eyes flicker down to Lance’s suspiciously empty hands. He wants to hit himself over the head, because of course his brain comes up with the least plausible excuse. “Funny, usually people bring food,” Keith mumbles.

Lance laughs, but it sounds strained, “Figured I’d check with you first. Do you want goo or Hunk’s attempt at forming actual food out of goo?”

Keith sighs and his ears –one of the more undeniably Galran of Keith’s new features - fold down. He doesn’t look angry, like Lance expects. He just looks tired. “Just admit it. You wanted to see the full extent of my freakishness. Are you happy? Get your fill now, because it won’t be long until Princess Allura ships me off and finds some new guy to pilot the Red Lion.”

Keith leaves the doorway and returns toward his bed. Lance follows after him, and when Keith doesn’t argue against it, he sits down beside him. He feels a gut-wrenching sense of déjà vu as he watches Keith curl up into himself. It feels too familiar. Once, Lance had been the one terrified of being abandoned. Maybe the situations weren’t exactly the same, but Lance figures that he knows the feeling well enough that he can help.

He thinks of how his mother had held him tight and promised him that everything would be fine. Back then, he hadn’t believed her. It had taken him years to accept that he hadn’t forced his family to leave the ocean. They’d chosen to do it because they loved him. Now he was in her place, and he didn’t have years to get Keith to understand his importance. He could practically hear her laughter now.

 He can’t exactly hug Keith’s worries away, but maybe if Lance can explain that they aren’t just going to leave him, Keith will understand. Words and phrase, things his mother would say if she were in this situation flitter through his mind. Heartfelt sentiments that would get across how much the entire team cared stick in his throat.

What manages to make it out is, “You’re being an idiot.”

Keith’s head jerks up at that, and Lance gets a fine example of the glowing ability of Galra eyes. He’d probably crack a joke if he wasn’t trying to figure out how to dig himself out of this situation. Keith sound incredulous as he sputters, “Excuse me?”

Lance huffs. He’d always been one to roll with whatever punches life through at him, and Goddamn it, if he wasn’t going to do that now. “You’re an absolute idiot if you think we’re just going to abandon you. You’re still Keith, and you’re just as annoying and stubborn even if you’re purple. We’d be awful friends if we gave up on you because you look different.”

“Lance,” Keith says.

“Don’t ‘Lance’ me. I know what I’m talking about. I know it’s hard to believe, but yeah I’m right. We’ve all been worried sick about you, and none of us are happy with the way we handled it. So please, let us fix this.”

Keith is silent for a moment, his mouth hanging open in shock. Lance half expects Keith to yell at him to get out. What he doesn’t expect is the indignant response of, “ _I’m_ annoying? Do you remember who you are?”

Of course Keith would focus on that. Everything about it is so very Keith that Lance wonders how they ever for a moment could have questioned it. Lance is laughing at the complete absurdity of it before he can stop himself. Keith stares at him in bewilderment for a moment, before he seems to realize why Lance is laughing. Soon he’s trying to hold back giggles of his own.

(It’s then that Lance realizes that he likes the way Keith laughs. It’s awkward and only spurs Lance into laughing harder, just like the person it belongs to. Lance really, really hopes he gets to hear it more often.)

When they finally settle down, Lance is leaning on Keith for support. Keith, for his part, does not complain. They stay like that for while, listening to the sound of each other breathing in the Keith’s dimly lit room. In usual Lance fashion, he can’t let the peace of the moment last for long. “So,” he says, trying to hide the smirk tugging at his lips, “would you say we had a bonding moment?”

“Get out of my room,” Keith says, as he pushes Lance away and buries his face in his hands. He’s smiling, though, so Lance will count that as a win. “Why do you always have to ruin everything?”

“I’ve been told it’s a skill,” Lance jokes. He nudges Keith, “C’mon, clean yourself up. The others are probably dying to see proof that you’re alive. I think Shiro’s gone grayer than he already was during your isolation period.”

At the mention of Shiro, Keith flinches. It’s only for a moment, and had Lance not been watching he would have missed it. Lance feels a sense of unease at the thought. That’s going to be a hard conversation; he doesn’t want to be a part of.

In an effort of dispelling the tension trying to make its way into the air, Lance throws an arm over Keith’s shoulder and pulls him closer. “Dude, everything’s going to be fine. Stop worrying.”

“You sound so sure of yourself.” Lance can practically hear the way Keith rolls his eyes.

“When have I _ever_ been wrong?” Lance offers a smile, and winks. He’s practically asking for Keith to retort with some witty comeback.

Keith scoffs, but doesn’t take the bait. Instead, he leans into Lance, close enough that his breath warms the side of Lance’s neck. He feels more than hears Keith’s “Thanks,” as he mumbles it into Lance’s shoulder. His heartbeat drowns out most of the sound. Before Lance gathers his bearings and react, Keith pulls away and heads towards the bathroom.

When Keith disappears behind the bathroom door, Lance covers his burning cheeks with his hands and tries to ignore the voice of his uncle saying, “You’ll understand in time,” repeating in his head.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God, I need a beta. Coincidentally and by no planning of my own, this fic will end on my birthday.  
> (Edit: I really need to stop posting these at ungodly hours of the night. Some of these errors are embarrassing.)


	5. Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Birthday to me~ So this is the final chapter, for real this time. I hope that all those who've stuck with me have enjoyed this story as much as I enjoyed writing it. Maybe we'll see more of selkie Lance in the future, who knows.

Lance can’t believe his ears. “Excuse me?”

“Coran and I have decided that a trip to Earth is in order,” Allura says. Her hands are clasped together, and she keeps bouncing on her heels. She’s practically glowing with the way she’s smiling. “Think of it as a thank you gift from us. This was not an easy decision, but eventually we came to the conclusion that there truly is no better time than now.”

“But we-,” Keith says, looking ready to argue that this would be the perfect chance to hit the Galra the hardest, but then he notices the way everyone is smiling just as widely as Allura, and all arguments leave him.

 When Coran and Allura exit, the group bursts into excited chatter. Even Shiro (who’s last interaction with Earth hadn’t been the most pleasant) is talking excitedly about visiting his family after so many years. Hunk goes on about his family: would his father be there to see him; had his mother learned to cook; did his brother’s wife have that baby, and did they name it after him like they’d promised?  Pidge is in the middle of convincing Shiro that _he needed_ to go with her to visit her mom. He’d practically been family before this mess started, so why shouldn’t he join her in a family reunion? Shiro laughs and tells her that he’d love to, as long as she wouldn’t mind helping him find his own family. Lance is fighting in vain to hold back the tears brimming in his eyes. As a compromise, he shoves his face into Hunk’s arm under the excuse that Hunk really looked as though he needed a hug. It’s an excuse that no one believes, but everyone is willing to let slide.

Keith is the only one who stays silent. It makes sense, in hindsight, for him to be less excited about their return to Earth for more than strategic reasons. If one was to consider how horribly people had reacted to Shiro’s arm, it would only be worse for someone who wasn’t initially very human looking. There was also the fact that no one actually knew if Keith had someone waiting for him back on Earth. They all look at each other, wondering who should be the one to invite Keith along. Maybe Pidge and Shiro? It would be a small gathering, but it was likely that Keith would feel excluded. Or would Hunk be the better option? He was always warm and accepting, and no one thought his family would be that different. 

Then Lance finally removes himself from where he’d been snuggling with Hunk’s arm. He takes one look at sad, possibly grumpy Keith, and considers the possibility of taking him to meet his family. On the plus side, there would never be a better time for Lance to tell Keith some things he’d been holding back. On the down side... well Lance wasn't one to think about the negative. He turns his attention towards Hunk, who meets his eyes. There’s a moment where either through the near-mindreading ability of a life-long friend or whatever quasi-magic mind-meld thing the Lion have going, they seem to have a silent conversation.

It basically boils down to:

“Should I do it?”

“Can I convince you otherwise?"

And so with those unspoken words encouraging him, Lance blurts out, “I want you to meet my family.”

Keith’s faces flicker through a myriad of emotions, none which resemble happiness in the slightest. There’s shock for one. Possibly a dash of fear. Maybe a little sprinkle of panic. All are reasonable emotions when faced with the prospect of Lance’s (rather huge) family. Even so, none are  good news for the possibility of Keith accepting Lance’s offer.

So Lance, when faced with a situation steadily growing worse and worse by the minute, does what he does best. He babbles, “You don’t have to if you don’t want. There are probably tons of things you’d rather do. I’d just really appreciate if you-”

“I’d love to,” Keith says, cutting off Lance before he can really get going. His face has finally settled on one emotion. It’s probably something close to embarrassment, but with Keith you never could be sure.

* * *

“Lance, this is a beach.”

Lance rolls his eyes and shoves Keith away, “Wow, thanks. I would never have guessed.”

“When you said we were going to meet your family, I wasn’t expecting,” Keith glares down at the sand clinging to his legs as if it has personally offended him, “this.”

Lance hums, and tries to hide the smile steadily forming on his lips as he says, “The ocean has always been important to my family."

Keith’s frown deepens and he tries in vain to wipe some of the sand off. “And that means we have to go to the beach?”

“Yep, so suck it up, desert boy,” Lance says, pointedly walking a little closer to Keith so he can knock him with his shoulder. “Shouldn’t you be used to this much sand?”

Keith huffs, but doesn’t come up with a counter-argument.

They finally reach their destination. It’s remote (which given that it was winter, wasn’t particularly necessary, but Lance didn’t want anyone stumbling in on this moment). As he’d asked, his uncle has left a beach bag with towels and some clothes. In the distance, Lance can make out two familiar tails disappearing beneath the waves.

Keith makes a point of looking around, and asking, “So, uh, are they hiding or something?”

“Give it a moment,” Lance says, stepping into the ocean. He ponders what would be the best way to signal to them. Crying would be traditional, but a sharp whistle would be quicker. Before he can make an argument either way, the seals are speeding towards him. Once they are in shallow enough water, Lance races towards them and practically tackles them when they are within reach. Both of them let out startled barks that soon devolve into what Lance recognizes as laughter.

Keith follows after him, face filled with the concern that anyone would have after watching their boyfriend hug random sea creatures. He tentatively places a hand on Lance’s shoulder and eyes the seals.

Lance lets go of them and turns around to face Keith. He can no longer hide the smile, and there are actual tears mixing with the water splashing against his face. He attempts to wipe them away, but all that achieves is getting more water on his face. “Keith,” he says, voice cracking a little on the word, “I want you to meet my moms.”

“Lance,” Keith says, and he looks about ready to finish that sentence with, “those are seals,” when one of the seal’s skin seems to sag and pull way from itself.  From within the seal, a woman who looks undeniably like Lance appears. The same happens with the other seal, and by that point Keith is wondering if maybe all this time in space has gotten to him.

Lance is quick to react, rushing towards the little rock where his uncle’s forgotten bag is waiting.  Keith is less so, and all he can do is gap at the two women shivering and trying to cover themselves with the leftover seal skin.

One asks him, “Are you our Lance’s boyfriend?”

To which Keith responds with what could only be called a choked sob.

When Lance returns with two uselessly soaked towels in tow, his mother pulls him close and kisses him on the forehead. She takes the towel from him and sighs, “You know I’m ecstatic to see you home, but was this really necessary?”

“Dramatic effect,” Lance replies and hands the other towel to his mom, “Where would we be without a little bit of flare in our lives?”

“Not freezing, and halfway to lunch,” his mother mumbles as she pulls him tighter.

* * *

 

Once his parents are fully clothed and Keith has seemingly recovered, they all make their way to Angela’s house, where the rest of family is eagerly awaiting them. The reunion is chaotic, to put it lightly. Everyone is ready to pull Lance into a bone crushing hug, or pepper his face with kisses as if he was twelve. A few even attempt the same with Keith, who has the same terrified expression he’d worn during the few diplomatic missions Allura had sent him on before realizing the error of her ways. Eventually things settle down, and Lance is pulled immediately into helping set up for lunch.

It’s then that his parents decide to ask, “If somehow, we found your pelt, do you think you’d leave?”

Lance nearly drops the plates he’d been carrying. All Lance can manage in response is a rather intelligent, “What?”

His mother rolls her eyes and helps him steady himself. Meanwhile his mom is still blazing with the determination only a mother out for an answer can possess, “We want to know if you’d stay with us in the ocean, if we found it.”

There’s a pregnant pause.

“I don’t know,” Lance says, “What brought this on?”

“Nothing, sweetheart,” his mother says a little too quick, “it’s just something we were wondering about.”

Lance narrows his eyes but doesn’t push it. Instead, he looks into the living room where Keith is trying to fend off one of Lance’s cousins who seems intent on using him as a jungle gym. He’s been pushed to one side of the couch, since Ana has taken it upon herself to hog the rest of it. Though he can’t see Ana’s face from where he’s standing, judging by Keith’s, she’s probably making all kinds of awful threats.

Keith catches Lance’s gaze and mouths the words, “Help me.”

When he turns back towards his parents, there’s a sad smile on both of their faces. “I figured,” his mother says. She squeeze’s his mom’s arm and smiles, “You always did take after her family more than mine.”

            Lance isn’t quite sure what she means, but he doesn’t get the chance to ask when his mom snorts and gestures behind him, “You might need to save your boyfriend over there.”

            When he turns around, he finds that while his sister had left, at least two more of his cousins have joined in on attempting to climb Mount Keith. He quickly hands the plates to his mother, and rushes to Keith’s aid.

            He manages to convince the new climbers to stop by using the good old threat of parental retribution. The one attempting to use Keith as her own personal jungle gym takes a little more effort. When Lance tries to remove her from Keith’s shoulders, she keeps hold by way of Keith’s mullet. He then turns to reason which quickly goes south, because she is only five and has zero understanding of reason. What finally worked in the end was telling her that he’d heard that Angela was making brownies and the first kid to get there could lick the spoon. She’s off of Keith before Lance can offer to help.

With his rescue attempt successful, Lance plops down in the open spot beside Keith. He slings an arm over his shoulder and gives him a charming smile, “So how are you handling my family?”

Keith glares at him, “You couldn’t have warned me?”

            Lance blinks, “About the selkie thing or the big family? I thought both were pretty clear.”

Keith glares harder, though it’s quickly undermined by the way Keith practically face plants into Lance’s side.

“Your sister tried to threaten me.”

“I figured she would.”

“She also mentioned something about some kind of gift?”

Lance tilts his head and quirks an eyebrow, “Before or after this supposed shovel talk?”

“After,” Keith says, “something about how they’d found something of yours? She said that you’d understand, and that it was in your room.”

“What?”

“I don’t know. I told you all she told me.” Keith looks up at him, clear confusion on his face. “Is it important?”

“Very,” Lance breathes, pushing away from the couch and practically racing towards his room.

It couldn’t be.

Could it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What’s not addressed is that the Paladins actually spend a total of two or three days on Earth. The first or so day is spent with Allura handling the politics (which is when Lance sent a letter to his family basically explaining things and also choreographing the little stunt with Keith), and the last day or so is spent traveling to their families.


End file.
